What The People Don't See

Never Miss A Beat

"No fucking way!"

"Yeah. I know. It was class."

"Class? Are you kidding me?! You've met Elton John and that's all you have to say about it? Class my arse..."

Shades laughed and reached across the booth for seconds, going for a slice with plenty of ham on it. He took tentative bites while I shoved a whole slice into my mouth in one go. He swallowed and wiped his mouth with a greasy napkin.

"I suppose we're just used to it by now. I mean, we've met a lot of really cool people at this stage" he shrugged.

" Yeah but seriously, come on!" I replied, waving my giant slushy cup in the air. "Elton fucking John."

I leaned my head against the wooden board behind me and began to sing 'Tiny Dancer'. Heads twisted around their own booths to see what the sudden outburst was and I gave a disapproving ancient, old woman the middle finger. She turned away in disgust, muttering viciously under her breath. Shades stifled a laugh and waited for me to get to the chorus. By the time I wrapped up, he looked quite uneasy and was pulling at his shirt collar like he had a nervous tick.

"What's up doc?" I asked, taking a gigantic slurp from my blue slushy.

Shades shrugged and played with the jukebox that sat at the end of the table. He flicked each page of songs over and back before cautiously looking up at me.

"Are you drunk, Stella?"

I stared blankly back at him, almost wondering myself if I was. But then I remembered that there was no way I could be; I drove to London.

"No way, I'm fully sober, look!"

I thrust out my hand to show him how steady it was and instead knocked over his glass of coke, sending it skidding across the floor. For a moment we sat in stunned silence and then he broke out into laughter. I grinned. His laugh was the most contagious thing I'd ever experienced.

"Are you sure you're not even just a little bit drunk? Cause I don't mind, I'm not gonna judge or anything, I just want to make sure you're al..." He trailed off, his cheeks burning bright red. He stroked his nose as if to push up his glasses and dropped his hand into his lap once he realised he'd taken them off.

"No, Ross, really. I'm not drunk. I swear" I said, crossing my heart with my pinkie. I suddenly heard back what I said, realising that I called him by his name. It felt weird but strangely right, like I'd been waiting to say his name my whole life.

We sat in silence for a few minutes, awkwardly glancing at each other every now and then. I was never usually this quiet but something about him made me want to zip my mouth shut and float in the calmness. My phone buzzed in my pocket but I ignored it, not wanting to disrupt the peace. My eyes wandered to the ceramic bowls of chips on the table and a song immediately popped into my head.

"One little bunny ate potato chips" I sang, grabbing a fistful even though they were already cold.

Ross laughed and raised his eyebrows. "Uh, do you mean 'one piggy ate potato chips'?"

I nodded enthusiastically, relieved that the silence had died. "Yeah, that's the song about hogs, right? Not a bad tune actually."

"What do you mean 'actually'?" Ross said, a smirk tugging at the corner of his lips. I liked the sassy Ross. He was much more interesting.

"I'm just not really into your kinda music. It's all a bit too...hardcore for me."

Ross looked surprised. "I didn't think anything would be too hardcore for you. You look like the definition of hardcore!"